Earth-moving machines, for example, excavators, shovels, continuous miners, loaders, trucks, etc., include a power source that provides power for propelling the machines and for operation of one or more work tools of the machine. The power source typically includes an internal combustion engine. Operation of the engine may require a variety of fluids other than fuel. For example, the engine may require engine lubricant for lubrication of the engine moving parts. The engine lubricant may accumulate soot and/or debris generated due to wear of the engine components as the engine lubricant circulates within the engine. The engine lubricant may also burn, decompose, and/or degrade because of exposure to high temperatures in the engine. The engine may also employ an engine coolant for cooling the combustion chambers of the engine. Like the engine lubricant, the engine coolant may also accumulate debris and may degrade or decompose because of exposure to high temperatures generated in the engine.
Power may be transferred from the engine to wheels or tracked undercarriages of the machine via a transmission and gearbox system. The transmission and gear box system may employ transmission fluid and/or gear oil for lubrication. In some cases, power may be transferred to the wheels or tracked undercarriages by hydraulic pumps or motors, which may be driven by the engine, and which may direct hydraulic fluid to drive the wheels or tracked undercarriages. Further, power may be transferred from the engine to various work tools of the machine via hydraulic pumps or motors, which may direct pressurized hydraulic fluid into or out of hydraulic cylinders associated with the work tools. The transmission fluid, gear oil, and/or hydraulic fluid may also accumulate dirt and debris as the fluid circulates through various components. Furthermore, the transmission fluid, gear oil, and/or hydraulic fluid may decompose or degrade as it circulates through the pumps, motors, and/or work tools. The machines may include other fluids, for example, brake fluid used in braking systems associated with the machines. Although the different fluids in the machines typically flow through their respective closed-loop circuits, one or more of the fluids may intermingle if leaks are present in the engine, transmission, hydraulic pumps and motors, conduits carrying the various fluids etc.
The various fluids, for example, engine lubricant, coolant, transmission fluid, gear oil, brake fluid, and/or hydraulic fluid may be periodically replaced or topped off as part of a predetermined maintenance schedule. The predetermined maintenance schedule, however, may not account for the rate of debris accumulation, decomposition, and/or degradation of the one or more fluids because of the operating environment, load conditions, or wear rate of a particular machine. Thus, one or more of the fluids may need to be replaced or topped off before the predetermined maintenance period. Alternatively, the fluids may not need to be replaced according to the predetermined maintenance schedule when, for example, the machine has not been used or when the machine is new. In some cases, early failure of one or more of engine, transmission, or hydraulic components may require unscheduled maintenance, requiring the machine to be removed from service. Moreover, it may be difficult to detect the presence of leaks, which may cause the fluids to intermingle during a scheduled or unscheduled maintenance of the machine. Thus, it may be desirable to determine a fluid condition of one or more of the fluids in the machine and/or a component condition of machine components subject to wear so that maintenance activities may be scheduled with minimum disruption in the use of the machine. Further, it may be desirable to detect the presence of leaks in one or more engine systems so that appropriate repairs may be carried out before catastrophic failure of one or more engine components.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,965,625 B2 to Dvorak et al. (“the '625 patent”) that issued on Feb. 24, 2015, discloses a system for predicting a portion of used lubricant in an engine that is to be drained and replaced with fresh lubricant. The '625 patent discloses receiving a first input of an analysis characteristic value from the used lubricant. According to the '625 patent, the analysis characteristic value may consist of amounts of various elements (e.g. iron, lead, tin, etc.), water, fuel, sludge, insolubles, etc. The '625 patent also discloses receiving a second input consisting of an analysis characteristic threshold. The '625 patent discloses a process for predicting a future analysis characteristic value based on the two received inputs and historical characteristic values. The '625 patent also discloses determining whether the predicted characteristic value exceeds the characteristic threshold. Further, the '625 patent discloses determining an amount of lubricant that should be replaced to extend the lubricant life to a future predetermined service interval.
Although the '625 patent discloses the use of lubricant sample analysis, the disclosed systems and methods may still not be optimal. In particular, the systems and methods of the '625 patent rely on analysis of each analysis characteristic individually, ignoring the impact of more than one analysis characteristic on the maintenance schedule. Furthermore, the systems and methods of the '625 patent determine whether to replace or top off the lubricant when the machine has already been removed from service for maintenance. Additionally, the disclosed systems and methods do not determine whether repair or replacement of one or more machine components is required.
The engine coolant monitoring system of the present disclosure solves one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems in the art.